Problem solved

Last spring the chief executive of the Planning Inspectorate explained that a large part of the reason for the delay in the handling of planning appeals was “the unexpected receipt of more than 1000 prior approval appeals for phone kiosks”. Here on the Blog we remarked that the interest in phone kiosks arises largely from their function as structures for the display of advertisements, and we suggested a solution to the problem (Whatever happened to ….)

Following a recent court ruling, Westminster City Council v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government 5/2/19, however, it seems as if the problem might have been solved thanks to the judge’s interpretation of the GPDO. In this case the court quashed the inspector’s decision (DCS Number 400-019-179) to grant prior approval for a phone kiosk. The judge noted that a development only falls within the scope of the relevant class of the GPDO if it is for the purpose of a telecommunications network, ruling that in order to benefit from permitted development rights, the kiosk had to fall fully and squarely within that class. Because the kiosk was for the dual purpose of communications and advertising, the judge reasoned, the council was right to find that it did not fall within the class.

Good news all round, as we see it. Firstly, the ruling puts an end to any more prior approvals for phone kiosks that nobody needs, and secondly, planning inspectors will no longer be faced with the soul-destroying task of wasting their time on prior approval appeals relating to phone kiosks that nobody needs.

A "net health gain" principle should be embedded in national planning policy to ensure that new developments do not contribute to the problem of air pollution, a report by government agency Public Health England has recommended.

The government's Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which sets the policy framework for the expansion of Heathrow airport, should be "set aside and reconsidered" if it is found to be legally flawed, the High Court has been told on the first day of a legal challenge against the airport's expansion.

Plans have been approved for 1,500 homes on an employment site in Salford Quays, including a tower of up to 46 storeys, after officers concluded the development would not compromise neighbouring employment uses.

Plans have been approved for a mixed-use scheme with over 1,100 homes on a site currently used as a retail park off London's Old Kent Road, after planners concluded that the scheme's negative impacts, including the loss of retail space, would be compensated for by "major regeneration benefits".

The government has said it will "robustly defend" itself against a legal challenge which is seeking to have the approval for the expansion of Heathrow airport sent back to Parliament for reconsideration, as the case opens at the High Court today.

The High Court has upheld an inspector's ruling that the size of an area of hard-standing at a fencing company's yard in Surrey was so far in excess of what was required by a building on the site as to render it not ancillary to the building.